I’ve prepared a new house profile for another little known late twentieth century organic style house, this time in Aranda. The Andrews House was the first designed in Canberra by Laurie Virr in 1969 and is based on a triangular module.

The image here shows the kitchen module of the house, a sticking point during the approval process. When building approval was first sought, a permit was denied by the Department of the Interior on the grounds that the design ‘did not look like a house’. The Department’s resident architect was particularly troubled by the location of the kitchen: an internal module with no windows, but lit from above by a skylight. Kitchens must have external windows, it’s written in the tablets. Country Women’s Association guidelines, on which Departmental policy was based, stipulated that kitchens must have external windows to allow wives to have a pleasant outlook while preparing meals and washing the dishes. Depending on one’s outlook, that’s either quaint, hilarious or infuriating. Nonetheless, approval was ultimately given and the house went ahead as per plan.

The conservatism of the Department of the Interior during the 1960s made life very difficult for architects trying to do something a bit different, or that didn’t match the narrow template laid down by government. It forced some of them out of Canberra and curtailed the careers of others.

The Andrews House is in original condition and still occupied by the client 40 years after construction. The house is next door to Enrico Taglietti’s Paterson House, arguably his most important residential work. An interesting side note: the commission for 7 Juad Place was originally offered to Laurie Virr, but the Patersons changed their mind and went with Enrico Taglietti. The end result is two fine, original mid-century organic houses next to each other in a bushland setting.

Read the profile.

Back in August I posted about a little known late twentieth century organic style house in Kambah. The house is a fine example of that style of architecture. Along with its massing, use of geometric forms, deep roof overhang for shade and energy efficient design, it is also a successful implementation of a complex geometric plan based on a hemicycle—unusual if not unique for a mid-century Canberra house. Little known locally, perhaps—but not overseas. It has been widely published and visited by students, scholars and architects over the past three decades.

That house was designed and built by the Canberra architect Laurie Virr, who has had a fascinating career in engineering and architecture in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia spanning five decades. In between all of that, he trained with Herb Elliott at Portsea under Percy Cerutty and had a serious tilt at the 1960 Olympic team.

While Laurie has based himself in Canberra and produced important work here, he has largely worked interstate during the past thirty years. He has remained outside the system and gone unrecognised (in this country at least) by the mainstream—that is, the Australian Institute of Architects. Laurie’s idiom has mostly been the single residential dwelling, with an ongoing exploration of solar housing, geometric designs and planning for small spaces. It seems to me that, together with Enrico Taglietti, he has been one of the most original and important practitioners of the late twentieth century organic style of architecture working in Canberra.

I’ve now prepared a short biography of Laurie Virr which gives a brief outline of his career and work. I’m also working on a profile of Laurie’s other important Canberra work—his first house, the Andrews House, in Aranda, which remains as fresh and interesting today as it was when it was built in 1969.

Read the biography of Laurie Virr >

I’ve developed a new profile for the house designed (and substantially built) by architect Laurie Virr at 17 Meredith Circuit, Kambah. The house is an energy efficient, complex geometric design from the mid 1970s and an outstanding example of the late twentieth century organic style of architecture.

While the house has been published in the United States and Europe, it is virtually unknown in Canberra. It is not listed on the Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture or the ACT Heritage Register. For whatever reason, it appears to have fallen outside the ‘official’ systems of architecture awards and heritage processes. It is probably not the only one.

The house is based on the idea of a hemicycle and a grid system, where the units have been shifted at 30 and 60 degrees. The arcuated form is anchored at either end by polygonal terminals, with a hexagonal central tower forming a mezzanine bedroom over the main living space. Such geometric designs from the mid-twentieth century are rare in Canberra—the only other sophisticated example being the house at 10 Gawler Crescent, Deakin, designed by Alex Jelinek in 1956.

The house is also an outstanding example of efficient small planning and solar design. It is a modest 123.32 square metres and is perfectly attuned to its environment, requiring little or no heating and cooling. In an age where so-called ‘sustainable architecture’ can mean 300 square metre dwellings aggressively dominating the streetscape, this house provides a somewhat humbling contrast.

Anyway, this fascinating house deserves to be more widely appreciated, certainly in its home town. I hope you enjoy reading the house profile.